You cannot set up traps on your land in most countries.

Yup, as other poster noted this would result in charges against the owner in the UK too.

You can't use deadly force against someone for theft in most civilised countries.

"And so simple that I found lots of more or less similar stories..."

It is a hallmark of urban legends.

This story seems to originate with the case Bodine v. Enterprise High School, which involves a 19 year old on the roof of a high school who fell through a skylight covered with tar.

Your tale seems more likely to stem from the 1990s movie "Liar, Liar": http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119528/quotes?qt0372695

In none of those examples the criminal 'successfully' sued the victim (ie. won), they merely brought a frivolous case before the court.

> http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/2074077.stm

The farmer who shot him was jailed for manslaughter of the other burglar, so this isn't totally outrageous IMO. The claim was later dropped anyway.

> http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2223125/90-year-old-...

Not in the UK ("Filing his claim yesterday in California [...]"), and it seems that he didn't successfully sue (nothing reported, but I imagine it would get decent coverage if he won). Just a frivolous lawsuit by the looks of it.

> http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1356388/Villagers-ou...

More than likely this is just the police being overly cautious. The duty of care owed to a trespasser is fairly narrow, and the fact that it is a burglar may limit this further (e.g. if the burglar are injured by glass they broke, rather than an inadvertent trespasser falling onto exposed broken glass).